A daredevil explorer has set off to retrace one of the most disastrous Arctic expeditions in history.

Ralph Baker-Cresswell is in a team of eight planning to be the first to follow in the footsteps of his ancestor Lt Samuel Gurney Cresswell, who was part of a rescue team sent to search for Sir John Franklin, who set off in 1845 to discover the elusive North West Passage and became stranded on the ice and perished.

The 32-year-old from Bamburgh, Northumberland, said: "This expedition has a particular poignancy for me because one of my own blood relations was out on one of the original expeditions back in 1851, so it does give me a fairly unique opportunity to feel like I'm walking in his footsteps."